Senator
Chris Balkema
| Seat | Senate District 53 |
|---|---|
| Party | Republican |
| Capitol office | Section A, Office C · Stratton Office Building |
| Mailing address | Section A, Office C, Stratton Office Building, Springfield, IL 62706 |
| Capitol phone | 217-782-6597 |
| Legislative assistant | John Farish |
| Hometown | Channahon |
| Tenure | Serving since January 2025 |
| Term limited | No term limits |
Committees 7
- Senate Appropriations-Education Committee Republican spokesperson standing
- Senate Agriculture Committee standing
- Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee standing
- Senate Education Committee standing
- Senate Labor Committee standing
- Senate Pensions Committee standing
- Senate Revenue Committee standing
Bills, 104th General Assembly 74 as principal author · 355 as coauthor
- MeasureTitleStatusMomentum
- HB 5309Wildlife cd-mute swanEnacted100
- HB 5494Stroke care modernizationEnacted100
- SB 2826Pen cd-imrf-board of trusteesEnacted100
- SR 802Memorial-linda j. hanbackEnacted100
- SR 696Nec awareness month/dayEnacted100
- SR 686Congrats-kade hillEnacted100
- SB 2683Local gov debt-iroquois ctyEnacted100
- SR 124Support illinois farmersEnacted100
- HB 2366Epa-electronic reportingEnacted100
- SB 2044Web-based signatures actEnacted100
- SJR 24Illinois bacon dayPassed a chamber68
- SJR 12Il route 66 100 yearsPassed a chamber68
- SB 3620Regulatory sunset-boilersIn committee41
- HJR 32Ssg troehler memorial highwayOut of committee41
- SB 3936Stroke care modernizationIn committee38
All 74 bills as principal author ›
Coauthor of HB 1082, HB 1226, HB 1278, HB 1362, HB 1648, HB 1754, HB 1787, HB 1807, HB 2137, HB 2142, HB 2190, HB 2196 and 343 more.
Bills and sponsors: Open States bulk data (public domain dedication), 2026-11-public.pgdump; status is read from the official actions. About the momentum score
Effectiveness 104th General Assembly, 2025 to 2026
93rd percentile
| Bills & joint resolutions authored | 63 |
|---|---|
| … passed committee / chamber / both | 7 / 7 / 5 |
| … became law | 3 |
| Carried in the other chamber (became law) | 4 (3) |
| Points vs. Senate minority average | 58 ÷ 31.24 = 1.86 |
| Most-authored topics | Budget & taxes (13), Criminal justice & public safety (10), State government & agencies (7) |
Senate rankings · How the score works. A count of bill progress, not a judgment of the member's work.
Closest allies co-authorship, 2025 to 2026
Most bills written together
- Sally Turner RSenate 44 151
- Terri Bryant RSenate 58 122
- Jil Tracy RSenate 50 107
- Craig Wilcox RSenate 32 101
- Neil Anderson RSenate 47 100
- Don DeWitte RSenate 33 90
- Dave Syverson RSenate 35 83
- Darby Hills RSenate 26 82
- Seth Lewis RSenate 24 82
- Li Arellano RSenate 37 81
“Written together” = 104th General Assembly bills and joint resolutions on which both are principal author or coauthor (measures with more than 60 sponsors are left out). Sharing bills does not imply a personal or political alliance.
District 53
- Counties
- Bureau, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, McLean, Peoria, Putnam, Tazewell, Woodford
- Find your district
- Who represents me?
- House members sharing a county
- Ryan Spain (73), Brad Fritts (74), Jed Davis (75), Murri Briel (76), Jackie Haas (79), Bill Hauter (87), Regan Deering (88), Sharon Chung (91), Jehan Gordon-Booth (92), Travis Weaver (93), Norine Hammond (94), Chris Miller (101), Dennis Tipsword (105), Jason Bunting (106)
Official district map: see the official Senate page.
Lobbyist reports naming this member 2025 to 2026
No lobbyist expenditure reports naming this member are in our data.
Registered lobbyists and the organizations they represent are on our sister site, the Illinois Lobby Guide.
A reported expenditure is a legal, disclosed activity and does not imply wrongdoing.
Source
Copied from https://www.ilga.gov/Senate/Members/Details/3413 on November 2, 2026, through Open States people data (CC0), checked against official legislature rosters. Not endorsed by the Illinois State Senate.